Opéra Bastille

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This is the new Opéra Bastille. Designed by the (then) little-known Canadian architect Carlos Ott and built in 1989, it is the newer and by far the larger of the two main opera houses in Paris. It takes its name from the place de la Bastille, which is the intersection in the foreground, and this intersection in turn was named after the Bastille prison of French revolutionary fame, on which I have more information elsewhere. The older opera house is the classic Opéra Garnier.

This opera house today hosts primarily grand, classic operas, such as Carmen (the world’s most popular opera), Tosca, or Rigoletto. It is a gigantic structure, covering a city block—nearly 30 stories, ten of which are below ground, and 22,000 square metres on each level. There are 45 km of corridors in this building! The opera theater itself (auditorium and stage) occupies only four percent of the building's volume, and seats a bit over 2700 people (large by opera standards, but still not very large in absolute terms). The rest of this cavernous edifice is dedicated to backstage areas, workshops, and all the infrastructure necessary to support world-class grand-opera productions.

As examples of the size of this theater, consider the fact that there are no less than one dozen off-stage areas, spread over two levels six stories apart (the lower level is six stories underground). At the top (stage) level, there is one work area on either side of the stage, and several more directly behind it. Each area is the same size as the stage itself. This plan is duplicated on the lower level, for a total of a dozen such areas. This amazing abundance of space allows the decors for entire productions to be held intact off-stage. The decors are mounted on carriers that run on tracks, and then can be moved into place on the stage in just a few minutes. In addition, the entire stage can be lowered (using a mechanism similar to the aircraft elevators on aircraft carriers) several stories to bring it level with the bottom floor and more off-stage areas. The net result of all this is that the Opera Bastille can have several full operas in rotating performances concurrently.

This opera was originally built as one of the more successful of the late President François Mitterrand’s “grand (some would say grandiose) projects.” The President intended for it to appeal to everyone and not just dedicated opera fans, and it has been fairly successful in this respect. Although the top seats are still expensive (around $US 110, which is still less than at some other opera houses of comparable stature), the least expensive seats are only $US 9! Because the theater seats only 2700 people and the operas are popular, essentially every single performance of all the major operas is sold out well in advance. Indeed, there seem to be only two states for ticket sales at the Opera Bastille (and the Opera Garnier): (1) tickets not yet on sale, and (2) tickets sold out, with the intermediate state (tickets on sale and available) being almost apocryphal.

A railway station used to stand where the opera house is today. The railroad tracks entering the station approached from the southeast over an elevated viaduct (behind the opera house and to the right in this photo). Today, this viaduct and the rest of the right-of-way have been converted into an elevated parkway, the Promenade Plantée, that runs for several kilometres towards the east, up to the city limit.

To the immediate left and just outside the frame of this photograph is the July Column, a famous landmark and a rallying point for political demonstrations. Outside the frame on the right is the Bassin de l'Arsenal, a tiny and charming harbor filled with private pleasure boats—it communicates directly with the Seine River. Far off to the left, and not visible here, is the parkway that covers the underground portion of the Canal Saint Martin, one of several canals in Paris (I have a picture of a boat in one of the locks on this canal, if you’re interested.

The Opera Bastille has a Web site of its own, if you would like more information. I also have picture of the Opera at night before a performance, if you’d like to see it lit up.

Photographed on April 9, 1999.